Complications Arise When Wedding Politics and Marriage

It’s OK to marry a liberal, but if your partner is an atheist, watch out.

The Pew Research Center released a study today that showed how political polarization affects the way government works in the U.S. and how it affects our personal lives.

Most Americans are comfortable with political differences inside their households. However, when you ask people who considers themselves consistently conservative how they would feel if an immediate family member married a Democrat, 30% said they’d be unhappy. Twenty-three percent of consistent liberals said they’d be unhappy if an immediate family member were to marry a Republican.

Religion plays a far bigger role for families. Almost half (49%) of Americans said they’d be unhappy if an immediate family member were to marry an atheist. If you are consistently conservative, that number jumps to 73%.

Nine percent of Americans say they’d be unhappy if a loved one married a “born-again” Christian; however, that number jumps to 27% if you are consistently liberal.

Liberals also don’t want to see their family members marry gun owners, with 31% saying they’d be unhappy; only 1% of consistently conservatives would feel unhappy about a gun owner.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of the chart incorrectly labeled “No college” as “College educated.”

About The Numbers

The Wall Street Journal examines numbers in the news, business and politics. Some numbers are flat-out wrong or biased, while others are valid and help us make informed decisions. We tell the stories behind the stats in occasional updates on this blog.